Eat, Drink and Be Married

Ali Landry had mixed feelings about her wedding. Not her groom, mind you. Director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, whom she met in a theology class last year, "was sent to me from God," says the costar of UPN's Eve. "I couldn't wait to get to the church to marry him." But did she want her wedding to be formal or casual? She decided, she says, on "both." And so at 2:30 p.m. on April 8 in the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, 140 guests gathered in the San Francisco Church for a Catholic mass with traditional vows, followed by a procession through town during which they watched mariachis play and drank shots of tequila. "By the time we got to the reception," says Landry, "everyone was already having a great time!"

Landry, 32, and Mexican-born Monteverde, 28, asked a ballet troupe to do regional dances while revelers dined on shrimp, filet mignon and chiles en nogadas (stuffed peppers). Afterward the music went global: African, Cuban, Motown and hip hop. "Everybody took their shoes off to dance," says Landry. Then, mid-fiesta, fireworks lit the sky. "It was amazing," says Landry. When the newlyweds took their leave at 1 a.m., "we were crying," she says, "because it was such a beautiful night."